Not really, black people in America as a whole are in a poorer demography, and poorer people are extremely less likely to vote. This is why candidates talk about the middle class and almost never about the poor (except for healthcare, which affects the middle class too).

Not really, black people in America as a whole are in a poorer demography, and poorer people are extremely less likely to vote. This is why candidates talk about the middle class and almost never about the poor (except for healthcare, which affects the middle class too).

There are two other problems associated in the US with getting out the black vote:

1) Gerrymandering. Republicans traditionally don't have the black vote, so when they control state legislatures, there have been numerous instances of voting districts being redrawn to give blacks approximately 40% of the population. This effectively nullifies their vote.

2) Vote rigging. This has been a severe problem since 2000, when massive vote fraud was noted in solidly black districts of both Ohio and Florida. Large numbers (and in tens of thousands) of votes simply went missing. Because the state government at the time was Republican, the investigation that was held afterwards was short and perfunctory. When the Ohio legislature changed hands in 2006, the Republican official in charge of voting administration in the state was quietly told that he would leave office by choice, or face an expensive lawsuit detailing the illegal manipulation of votes that had occurred over the last several years. He left in a huff.

Glinka wrote:There are two other problems associated in the US with getting out the black vote:

1) Gerrymandering. Republicans traditionally don't have the black vote, so when they control state legislatures, there have been numerous instances of voting districts being redrawn to give blacks approximately 40% of the population. This effectively nullifies their vote.

2) Vote rigging. This has been a severe problem since 2000, when massive vote fraud was noted in solidly black districts of both Ohio and Florida. Large numbers (and in tens of thousands) of votes simply went missing. Because the state government at the time was Republican, the investigation that was held afterwards was short and perfunctory. When the Ohio legislature changed hands in 2006, the Republican official in charge of voting administration in the state was quietly told that he would leave office by choice, or face an expensive lawsuit detailing the illegal manipulation of votes that had occurred over the last several years. He left in a huff.

Usually, the districts are redrawn after the census, which takes place every ten years. In 1990, some districts in some states were redrawn to give a solid black majority to increase their representation in various levels of government. One of the interesting side effects of this was that the Republicans actually took more seats in the 1992 House Election (see Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America for what happened in the 1994 election). The theory was that because there were heavily concentrated areas of blacks voting, other districts had less minority representation. Since blacks usually vote for the Democratic party, this gave a slight edge to Republican candidates.

As for the vote rigging, Premier Election Solutions (aka Diebold) should really be getting grilled about what has happened with their machines.

sambrookjm wrote:Usually, the districts are redrawn after the census, which takes place every ten years.

This happens, but I was referring to the frequent practice of redrawing district boundaries by state legislatures at times other than following a census. Numerous instances can be detailed in any given year prior to an important state/federal election year.

I don't doubt that if the minority in question was inclined to vote Republican, Democrats in charge of state legislatures would do the same to them. But they aren't, the only sizable, nationwide minority in question is black, and inclined to vote Democratic. And gerrymandering is consequently associated almost exclusively with Republicans.

As for the vote rigging, Premier Election Solutions (aka Diebold) should really be getting grilled about what has happened with their machines.

Especially when one reads this,, or this, or this, or this. But Diebold has its hooks in some major political machines (and by that, I mean the human-based ones, not the ones they create). A few states have removed their machines, but when you're playing in that league, it appears that nobody comes after you. The powerful look after their own.